“Theory’s Empire”
By Mark Bauerlein
This spring, Columbia University Press published an anthology of literary and cultural theory, a 700-page tome entitled Theory’s Empire and edited by Daphne Patai and Will Corral. The collection includes essays dating back 30 years, but most of them are of recent vintage (I’m one of the contributors).
Why another door-stopper volume on a subject already well-covered by anthologies and reference books from Norton, Johns Hopkins, Penguin, University of Florida Press, etc.? Because in the last 30 years, theory has undergone a paradoxical decline, and the existing anthologies have failed to register the change.
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6.30.2005
6.27.2005
Neu Musik...
So I just got a few albums, some new, some new to me:
Charlie Parker -- The Best Of The Dial Years
The Decemberists -- Castaways And Cutouts
The Decemberists -- Picaresque
Elf Power -- Nothing's Going to Happen
The Hold Steady -- Separation Sunday
Stephen Malkmus -- Face the Truth
Various Artists -- Run the Road -- A landmark introduction to Grime -- UK street rap -- from Vice Records, the people that bring you Bloc Party, Death from Above 1979, and The Streets.
And a couple songs:
"The Sun Is Forever"
Elf Power
Album: The Winter Is Coming
"Marching The Hate Machines (Into The Sun) -- Feat. The Flaming Lips"
Thievery Corporation
Album: The Cosmic Game
"Evil Eye"
Elf Power
Album: Walking With the Beggar Boys
"Modern Music" and "No Satisfaction"
Black Mountain
Album: Black Mountain
===============================
Music Homework for All of You
Get the following singles:
The Decemberists -- "July, July!"
Yo La Tengo -- "Speeding Motorcycle"
Portastatic -- "Drill Me"
Elf Power -- "Evil Eye"
Homework is due by July 1st -- since July won't be the same without the Decemberists' single. (Feel free to use iTunes, eMusic, or fellow students to help you complete your homework.)
Charlie Parker -- The Best Of The Dial Years
The Decemberists -- Castaways And Cutouts
The Decemberists -- Picaresque
Elf Power -- Nothing's Going to Happen
The Hold Steady -- Separation Sunday
Stephen Malkmus -- Face the Truth
Various Artists -- Run the Road -- A landmark introduction to Grime -- UK street rap -- from Vice Records, the people that bring you Bloc Party, Death from Above 1979, and The Streets.
And a couple songs:
"The Sun Is Forever"
Elf Power
Album: The Winter Is Coming
"Marching The Hate Machines (Into The Sun) -- Feat. The Flaming Lips"
Thievery Corporation
Album: The Cosmic Game
"Evil Eye"
Elf Power
Album: Walking With the Beggar Boys
"Modern Music" and "No Satisfaction"
Black Mountain
Album: Black Mountain
===============================
Music Homework for All of You
Get the following singles:
The Decemberists -- "July, July!"
Yo La Tengo -- "Speeding Motorcycle"
Portastatic -- "Drill Me"
Elf Power -- "Evil Eye"
Homework is due by July 1st -- since July won't be the same without the Decemberists' single. (Feel free to use iTunes, eMusic, or fellow students to help you complete your homework.)
6.19.2005
Days in the Barcelona Sun -- Part I
Tie your shoes, fasten your parachutes, you're now traveling with America's Young Theologian - this may be a bumpy ride...
Date: June 17-19
Location: Barcelona, Spain
The goal was to spend a couple days in Barcelona with my friend Erica. The plan was to take a train from Freiburg to Frankfurt, and fly from Frankfurt to Barcelona. And that's what happened, that is if one can call Everest a little Sunday afternoon hike.
AYT gets on a midnight train to Georgia, no, to Frankfurt; we've been over this, please try to keep up and while you're at it, please forgive any the Gladys Knight & The Pips references. Why a midnight train you ask? The earliest morning train will not arrive early enough in Frankfurt to catch the plane to Barcelona. So, Thursday in the middle of the night, AYT sleepily walks across the bridge to Freiburg's Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and climbs aboard the red train waiting on track one. Catch train, check.
After a fitful and sleepless three hour train ride interrupted by ticket checks and drunken nationalistic sports fervor, the train pulls into Frankfurt's Hauptbahnhof. It's three in the morning. AYT is going on zero sleep. The next train to the airport doesn't come until 4:15am. 75 minutes to kill in a deserted train station. Hmmm...maybe a peek outside?
This view automatically brings a chuckle to AYT. Kumho happens to be the manufacturer of the somewhat specialized tires on AYT's car. Once on a fall Princeton day after discovering a flat tire, America's Young Theologian and Reno took a little trip to the local Pep Boys' where AYT was forced to ask, "Do you carry Kumho tires?" Blank stare. "Kum-ho, do you carry Kum-ho tires?" Remembering the awkwardness and hilarity of this story added some warmth to the wee hours of a cool Frankfurt night.
AYT decides to wait inside and watch people for the next hour.
Sweet! Well, apparently AYT reserved a solitary, orange-punctuated, concrete paradise for the evening.
4:15a - Train arrives.
4:45a - AYT strolls into Frankfurt's airport.
5:15a - Told that AYT is in fact at the wrong airport.
6:00a - Get on bus.
7:30a - Arrive at correct airport.
The hours between 7:30a and 10am are spent trying to overcome intelligent design. It is a well known fact that countless hours go into designing airport chairs to be as ergonomically unsatisfying as possible. Finally lay on the floor.
Flight leaves with AYT on it. Two hours later - Barcelona. Well, almost. Flew into Girona - about an hour from Barcelona.
1:00p - Flight arrives in Girona
1:20p - Bus leaves for Barcelona
2:20p - Bus arrives in Barcelona
At this point, AYT has only slept in 15 min increments, has taken virtually every conceivable form of public transportation, except cars, rickshaw, camels, or boats, and has been emptied out of the air-conditioned bus into the 87 degree Barcelona sun. Happy to have arrived, but wanting nothing to do with any form of public transport, AYT starts to walk, and walk, and walk...
Will AYT make it to the hostel near Placa de Catalunya where Erica awaits? Will the trip improve?
-- Stay Tuned For "Days in the Barcelona Sun -- Part II" --
Date: June 17-19
Location: Barcelona, Spain
The goal was to spend a couple days in Barcelona with my friend Erica. The plan was to take a train from Freiburg to Frankfurt, and fly from Frankfurt to Barcelona. And that's what happened, that is if one can call Everest a little Sunday afternoon hike.
AYT gets on a midnight train to Georgia, no, to Frankfurt; we've been over this, please try to keep up and while you're at it, please forgive any the Gladys Knight & The Pips references. Why a midnight train you ask? The earliest morning train will not arrive early enough in Frankfurt to catch the plane to Barcelona. So, Thursday in the middle of the night, AYT sleepily walks across the bridge to Freiburg's Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and climbs aboard the red train waiting on track one. Catch train, check.
After a fitful and sleepless three hour train ride interrupted by ticket checks and drunken nationalistic sports fervor, the train pulls into Frankfurt's Hauptbahnhof. It's three in the morning. AYT is going on zero sleep. The next train to the airport doesn't come until 4:15am. 75 minutes to kill in a deserted train station. Hmmm...maybe a peek outside?
This view automatically brings a chuckle to AYT. Kumho happens to be the manufacturer of the somewhat specialized tires on AYT's car. Once on a fall Princeton day after discovering a flat tire, America's Young Theologian and Reno took a little trip to the local Pep Boys' where AYT was forced to ask, "Do you carry Kumho tires?" Blank stare. "Kum-ho, do you carry Kum-ho tires?" Remembering the awkwardness and hilarity of this story added some warmth to the wee hours of a cool Frankfurt night.
AYT decides to wait inside and watch people for the next hour.
Sweet! Well, apparently AYT reserved a solitary, orange-punctuated, concrete paradise for the evening.
4:15a - Train arrives.
4:45a - AYT strolls into Frankfurt's airport.
5:15a - Told that AYT is in fact at the wrong airport.
6:00a - Get on bus.
7:30a - Arrive at correct airport.
The hours between 7:30a and 10am are spent trying to overcome intelligent design. It is a well known fact that countless hours go into designing airport chairs to be as ergonomically unsatisfying as possible. Finally lay on the floor.
Flight leaves with AYT on it. Two hours later - Barcelona. Well, almost. Flew into Girona - about an hour from Barcelona.
1:00p - Flight arrives in Girona
1:20p - Bus leaves for Barcelona
2:20p - Bus arrives in Barcelona
At this point, AYT has only slept in 15 min increments, has taken virtually every conceivable form of public transportation, except cars, rickshaw, camels, or boats, and has been emptied out of the air-conditioned bus into the 87 degree Barcelona sun. Happy to have arrived, but wanting nothing to do with any form of public transport, AYT starts to walk, and walk, and walk...
Will AYT make it to the hostel near Placa de Catalunya where Erica awaits? Will the trip improve?
-- Stay Tuned For "Days in the Barcelona Sun -- Part II" --
Days in the Barcelona Sun -- Part II
Continued from:
Days in the Barcelona Sun -- Part I
America's Young Theologian shuns a multitude of subway stops on his cross Barcelona hike and without any more complications arrives at the Centric Point Hostel:
3:20p - Arrives at the Centric Point Hostel in Barcelona
So, a mere 15.5 hours after leaving Freiburg, AYT reaches his weekend home in sunny Barcelona and finds Erica on her bunk on the fifth floor of the hostel. They chat for 20 minutes and leave to wander the city.
The main downtown of Barcelona is architecturally reminiscent of Paris, but the landscape is definitely Spain.
After buying some cherries to eat, AYT and Erica stroll though the streets watching the crowds, sharing stories of Germany and Spain, and otherwise enjoying the company of another American who doesn't come off like a tourist. Then it's back to the hostel, AYT has earned a 3 hr. nap; Erica disappears into the Catalan evening. The two meet back up and go out for a few hours and then put Friday to bed.
Saturday
The two get up for the breakfast served at the hostel, ready for the day, and set out.
First Destination:
Some overlook, a nice climb. (Erica says hello.)
America's Young Theologian has a habit of saying hello to people in their native tongue regardless of whether he speaks the language and luckily Erica could take up the conversational slack, such as with this old man who Erica had the wherewithal to photograph after he continued on his way:
Second Destination:
Parque Güell - an urban park planned and directed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí - a.k.a. The Funpark Imagination of Catalonia's Crazy Son. It's actually quite nice, and the ceramic mosaics could also be described as collage (predating the "invention" of collage by the Cubists).
Erica takes a picture of both of us:
Erica takes a picture of AYT taking a picture:
The picture taken by AYT as Erica was taking the previous picture:
One of the fun things of traveling is deciphering the signs in a foreign country. This one doesn't leave much to the imagination:
(Poor Mr. Non-Descript Bubble Man. Now you know what he does when he's not standing like a soldier on a bathroom door.)
Some of the best moments in Barcelona were spent drinking Sangria, while sharing food and conversation. Erica and I paused for a long afternoon break in a café. The table - located between rows of trees in the middle of a boulevard - offered a liter of sangria, a pizza, and a pasta salad, which made the mistake of relying too heavily upon mayonnaise and eventually was replaced by another pizza. It also offered a nice view of El Templo de La Sagrada Familia - the Cathedral under construction from the plans of Antoni Gaudí.
"The patron of this project is not in a hurry." --Gaudí
Third Destination:
Sagrada Familia.
America's Young Theologian returns the favor of taking a picture of someone taking a picture:
Picture taken:
Third Destination:
The Beach. After a day of bouncing about, the two pick up a cold four-pack and settle for the remainder of the day on the beach.
A couple things about the beach: First, the people that you see topless are not the people you want to see topless. Second, if you're white - and I mean really white - being on a beach with a bunch of Spaniards doesn't help. Third, having men walk up and down the beach selling beers is one of the best ideas ever. It was a wonderful afternoon and made for a relaxing end of the day, watching the dusk approach and the sun recede. Such things can only be made better by ice cream on the walk home, dinner/drinks (another liter of sangria) at a legitimate restaurant, and eventually sleep.
Sunday morning comes early and with it a trek to the train station, a farewell to a friendship strengthened, airport, Basel, bus to Freiburg.
Days in the Barcelona Sun -- Part I
America's Young Theologian shuns a multitude of subway stops on his cross Barcelona hike and without any more complications arrives at the Centric Point Hostel:
3:20p - Arrives at the Centric Point Hostel in Barcelona
So, a mere 15.5 hours after leaving Freiburg, AYT reaches his weekend home in sunny Barcelona and finds Erica on her bunk on the fifth floor of the hostel. They chat for 20 minutes and leave to wander the city.
The main downtown of Barcelona is architecturally reminiscent of Paris, but the landscape is definitely Spain.
After buying some cherries to eat, AYT and Erica stroll though the streets watching the crowds, sharing stories of Germany and Spain, and otherwise enjoying the company of another American who doesn't come off like a tourist. Then it's back to the hostel, AYT has earned a 3 hr. nap; Erica disappears into the Catalan evening. The two meet back up and go out for a few hours and then put Friday to bed.
Saturday
The two get up for the breakfast served at the hostel, ready for the day, and set out.
First Destination:
Some overlook, a nice climb. (Erica says hello.)
America's Young Theologian has a habit of saying hello to people in their native tongue regardless of whether he speaks the language and luckily Erica could take up the conversational slack, such as with this old man who Erica had the wherewithal to photograph after he continued on his way:
Second Destination:
Parque Güell - an urban park planned and directed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí - a.k.a. The Funpark Imagination of Catalonia's Crazy Son. It's actually quite nice, and the ceramic mosaics could also be described as collage (predating the "invention" of collage by the Cubists).
Erica takes a picture of both of us:
Erica takes a picture of AYT taking a picture:
The picture taken by AYT as Erica was taking the previous picture:
One of the fun things of traveling is deciphering the signs in a foreign country. This one doesn't leave much to the imagination:
(Poor Mr. Non-Descript Bubble Man. Now you know what he does when he's not standing like a soldier on a bathroom door.)
Some of the best moments in Barcelona were spent drinking Sangria, while sharing food and conversation. Erica and I paused for a long afternoon break in a café. The table - located between rows of trees in the middle of a boulevard - offered a liter of sangria, a pizza, and a pasta salad, which made the mistake of relying too heavily upon mayonnaise and eventually was replaced by another pizza. It also offered a nice view of El Templo de La Sagrada Familia - the Cathedral under construction from the plans of Antoni Gaudí.
Third Destination:
Sagrada Familia.
America's Young Theologian returns the favor of taking a picture of someone taking a picture:
Picture taken:
Third Destination:
The Beach. After a day of bouncing about, the two pick up a cold four-pack and settle for the remainder of the day on the beach.
A couple things about the beach: First, the people that you see topless are not the people you want to see topless. Second, if you're white - and I mean really white - being on a beach with a bunch of Spaniards doesn't help. Third, having men walk up and down the beach selling beers is one of the best ideas ever. It was a wonderful afternoon and made for a relaxing end of the day, watching the dusk approach and the sun recede. Such things can only be made better by ice cream on the walk home, dinner/drinks (another liter of sangria) at a legitimate restaurant, and eventually sleep.
Sunday morning comes early and with it a trek to the train station, a farewell to a friendship strengthened, airport, Basel, bus to Freiburg.
6.12.2005
Article on the "Natural" Ending of a Work of Art
"What is the 'natural' ending of a work of art? How to close something whose premise, whose founding conceit, is that, like life, it doesn't end? The Russian formalist critic Viktor Schlovsky praised Chekhov for his 'negative endings', by which he meant, in part, the way his stories frustrate our sense of tidy form by refusing to end: 'And then it began to rain.'
The other day I watched the Ethan Hawke-Julie Delpy film Before Sunset, which came out last year, because I was curious about the idea of a movie whose rather literary ambition is to have a Chekhovian openness..."
Read the rest...
The other day I watched the Ethan Hawke-Julie Delpy film Before Sunset, which came out last year, because I was curious about the idea of a movie whose rather literary ambition is to have a Chekhovian openness..."
Read the rest...
Though I feel no need to ask or add anything to this article, one could ask, how does this relate to how one structures a sermon?
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